Incorporating elements of synth and alternative pop, these four songs, co-written and co-produced by Seán Behan and Richey McCourt, embody everything Laoise’s audience have come to love and more. Featuring the critically acclaimed single ‘Again’, the four-track EP is her most honest and sincere work yet, making it an ambitious next step.

With three new buoyant songs to revel in, the EP's lead single 'Mad' showcases a more audacious side to the 22-year-old songwriter from Galway. The quirky track depicts the story of that moment in life when you decide to no longer accept a situation that you’re unhappy with; it's that moment of self-awareness where you let your gut instinct cut through, and let your voice be heard. Laoise drew on past experiences of negative relationships- personal and professional – to present the fun but fierce lyric. Sonically, ‘Mad’ is a bed of pop hooks and lush backing vocals balanced with industrial synths sweeping throughout and a defiant build that centres on the song’s direct, simple but candid line, “And now I’m getting mad.”

Laoise (pronounced Lee-sha) has built a growing listenership for her dreamy, ambitious and frank pop songs about relationships and heartbreak, often with darker, moodier, more introspective lyrics and juxtaposed with upbeat electro and synth production. Laoise records, produces and releases her music completely independently. She’s become known for presenting her own brand of bold, glittering, gutsy electro-pop – paving the way for Irish-born pop music.

 Taking her cues from the silky production of acts like Tove Styrke, Troye Sivan and MØ, Laoise incorporates elements of synth, indie and alternative pop into her music. She is also is deeply inspired by household names like Kate Bush and David Bowie, as well as the different musical personas of Taylor Swift.

Industrial-tinged and true crime-inspired duo Skynd is the dark creative outlet and the alter ego of its lead singer, Skynd, and producer and multi-instrumentalist, Father. They are back with a new song and video that continues their exploration of the darkest and most disturbing parts of the human psyche and furthers their delightfully creepy aesthetic.

Skynd are for taking inspiration from inexplicable and brutal criminal cases and the mystery surrounding unsolved deaths and transforming them into songs, “I always wanted to write about Jim Jones because I've long been fascinated by how easily people are manipulated when it comes to religion. It was interesting how people followed him while ignoring all of the facts to the contrary about who he truly was. We put the facts of the story into music. I was also intrigued by the audio tapes of him talking his followers into suicide, I knew I had to write about it.”

“Although this horrible mass suicide happened 30 years ago, this case, at its core, is more relevant than ever”, says Father , “Where it has always been easy for religious leaders and governments to brainwash people, it became very easy for the silver-tongued Joe Blow to do so in recent years through the help of social media and the internet. Through the invention of the World Wide Web, we've been promised the age of information, which ironically became the age of misinformation. It is now harder than ever to tell the difference between the facts and what's fake. Could this development lead to a fatal event like in 1979, but on a global scale? It's harder to imagine that it couldn't.”

Last year, Skynd arrived on the scene with a debut EP featuring three songs and videos that nodded to infamous serial killers. Chapter 1 included ‘Elisa Lam’, ‘Gary Heidnik’, which features a cameo from Korn frontman and true crime aesthete Jonathan Davis, and ‘Richard Ramirez’.

SKYND LIVE DATES:

5/9 — The Great Escape — Brighton, UK

6/14 — Download Festival — Donnington, UK